May Morality Poster

I often wait with anticipation to see what the month's subway morality poster will be. For months and months (in fact the whole time we've been in Tokyo) the posters used somewhat disconcerting cartoon characters with googly eyes as their mascots. Last month I was very thrown off to find the googly-eyed people had been replaced with a cutesy photo of a lounging cat! This month's was no exception and we now have the cutest dog possible, running at top speed. The caption below him says "Please Take Your Time When You Ride The Train". Love it!

I recently read a book called "Confucious Lives Next Door", a very interesting insight into the lives of Japanese people and what we Westerners could learn from them. The morality posters were actually mentioned in this book and it turns out they are actually called "Manner Posters" and have been going for years. Every now and then Tokyo Metro commissions an artist, illustrator, or photographer to portray their view on the etiquette of subway riding. Apparently they even have exhibitions of past posters every now and then - I must look out for the next one!